A STEP AHEAD OF TERROR

New York Post ^ | August 10, 2004 | Editorial

[OESY]

The latest disclosures of al Qaeda's plans for another major attack in New York City in hopes of disrupt ing the election should finally put the lie to those who claim the recent terror alert was a politically timed sham.

Like Howard Dean, the defeated White House hopeful and now surrogate for John Kerry who charged that "every time something happens that's not good for President Bush, he plays this trump card, which is terrorism."

In fact, far from being a campaign ploy, the alert declared by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was based on new, specific information that was retrieved only in the past few days following a series of arrests in Pakistan.

The data — taken from three computers and 51 computer disks seized from two top al Qaeda operatives — point to plans to strike numerous potential targets using explosives-laden limousines, gasoline trucks, even tourist helicopters.

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Yes, some of the material dates back several years. But remember how Osama bin Laden's henchmen operate: They are patient and careful in their preparations, which take years to develop.

As Ridge wrote yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, the planning for 9/11 began as far back as 1996 — five years before the World Trade Center was felled.

"Imagine if we had discovered schematics for flying airliners into the World Trade Center towers in early 2001," he writes. "Would we have dismissed the information because it was from 1996?"

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With Democrats charging that every move by the White House is politically motivated, it's understandable that the Bush team felt a need to convince the public of the seriousness of the threat.

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